This news outlet reported Wednesday morning, Feb. 7 that the Buffalo Wings & Rings restaurant at 894 S. Main St. (Ohio 48) in the Centerville Square Shopping Center had shut down for good on Monday, Feb. 5 — but the chain apparently hasn’t given up on the Dayton area.

Messages left with Buffalo Wings & Rings corporate officials were returned by a spokesman for Buffalo Wings & Rings. Here’s what the company’s spokesman had to say:

“We recently made the decision to close our Centerville location. With the lease ending, we have decided to explore other options for where a restaurant can thrive within the area and best serve our fans in Montgomery and Greene counties.”

“Employees from the Centerville location were notified and are able to apply for available positions at other Buffalo Wings & Rings locations. We hope our fans in the area will visit us at nearby locations in Monroe, Mason and Liberty Twp., and we hope to be back in Centerville area soon!”

More than a dozen new restaurants that focus on fried chicken or chicken wings have opened across the Miami Valley in the last three years, and more are in the works. Most of those new restaurants have opened in the southern half of Montgomery County, including several in the Centerville-Washington Twp. area where Wings & Rings was located.